Improvement in breech-loading ordnance



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W. PALL ISER. Breech-Loiding Ordnance.

Patented Nov. 13, 1877.

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WILLIAM PALLISER, OF LONDON, ENGLAND.

IMPROVEMENT LN BJREE-CH-LO'AD'ING. ORDNANCE.

Specification forming part-of LettersPatent No 197,168, datedNovcmber 13, 1877; application filed October 15, 1877.

Toall; whom it mag concem:

Be itknown that I, WILLIAM PALLIsnR, of No. 19 Earls Court Square, London, in the county of Middles'ex, England', knight, have invented an Improvement in Breech-Loading Ordnance and do hereby declare that the following description, taken in connection with such parts as I claim and desire 'to secure by j-steel, being of larger diameter than the bore of Letters Patent-that is to say My invention relates to a method of constructing the breech apparatus of breech-loading guns so as to afford an easily-worked, reliable, and tight means of closing the breech for the discharge of the gun, with facility of opening the breech for charging it, and ability to resist great strain in discharging; and the construction which I will describe for this purpose is applicable either in constructing guns as breech-loaders or in converting muzzleloaders into breech-loaders, and enables the gun to be used as a muzzle-loader as well, whether the guns be of cast or wrought iron or of other metal, or whether they be lined in the manner described in the specification of a United States patent granted to me on the 29th June, 1869, No. 91,864.

The accompanying drawings represent breech apparatus constructed according to my invention.

Figure 1 is a longitudinal section of part of the breech end of a gun with the breech-plug in position for firing. Fig. 2 is a sectional plan of part of the breech end of a gun with the plug withdrawn and ready to be turned aside for charging. Fig. 3 is an end view of the breech.

In these figures, G is part of the body of the gun, which may be lined with A and B tubes, as shown according to my previous invention. In the center of the breech I bore a hole somewhat larger than the bore of the gun, and tap it with arapid internalscrew of several threads, for the reception of a screwe'd breech-plug, E. For guns of cast-iron or any metal other than steel, I prefer to introduce in the breech-hole the strain of the explosion on firing. I form the screw-threads of the breech-plu g, bush, and

lining with curved faces, as shown, whereby endi strain upon these parts is distributed evenly over their entire threaded surfaces, and abrupt shoulders and sharp corners liable to easy fracture are avoided.

The breech-plug E, which is preferably of the gun, is made with an end coned tofit a coned seating at a, where the charging-hole meets the bore, and it may be provided with any known form of gas-check, such ase, securedthereto by a central pin, which gas-check, being expanded on firing, closes the breechopening against the escape of the gases resulting from the explosion. I do not, however, claim such gas-check as part of my present invention. The plug E, having screw-threads cut on it to suit the rapid threads of the breech-hole, is screwed through a collar, F, which is hinged to the breech of the gun. In this collar is fitted a sliding pin, H, pressed by a spring against the surfaceof the plug E. In that surface are provided two shallow holes, 6 and 0 into which the point of the pin H can enter. The former hole, 6 near the front of the plug, is entered by the pin H, when the plug isunscrewed sufficiently far to permit of its being folded back along with the collar F, the pin in that case acting as a stop to preventthe plug E from being further unscrewed. One side of the hole 6 is sloped off, as shown in Fig. 3, to allow of the plug E being screwed up when the point of the pin H is in thehole e. The other hole, 6 near the back end of the plug, admits the pin H when the plug is screwed up, the pin in that case serving as a stop to prevent the plug from being unscrewed by the force of the explosion. In order to unscrew the plug after discharge, the pin H has to be withdrawn from the hole 6 A droplatch, Gr, mounted on the breech of the gun, catches in a notch provided at the edge of the collar F, and holds the collar close to For gunsv the breech when the plug is abouttobe screwed in, but this latch yields to a pull when the collar and plug are to be folded back, so as to leave the breech-hole free for charging. On the end of the plug E is mounted a tappetlever handle, I, of known kind, free to turn on the plug, and held thereon by pins iflworking with the hinged collar F, is folded away from the breech, so as to leave the breech-hole free for the insertion of the charge. The collar F is then folded back against the breech of the gun, the latch G catching and holding it there, whereupon the plug E is screwed forward till its coned end bears against the coned seating of the bore, the pin H at the same time entering the hole 0 so as to prevent the plug E from unscrewing. The gun having been discharged, the pin H is withdrawn by hand, the plug E is unscrewed, and the collar F withdrawn, whereupon the gun can be charged again. It is obvious that by retaining the plug E screwed up the gun can be used as a muzzle-loader.

Having thus described the nature of my in- Vention, and the best means I know of carrying the same into practical effect, I- claim as my invention, with respect to breech-loading apparatus for ordnance- 1. The combination of the screwed steelbush of the charging-hole with the gun-lining, having a rear screwed portion, and arranged to engage with said bush, as and for the purpose set forth.

2. The combination of the screwed plug E with the hinged collar F, latch G, and springpin H, substantially in the manner and for the purposes herein set forth.

3. In a breech-loading cannon, the combination of a charging-hole having a greater diameter than the bore of the gun, and provided with a curved-face screw-thread, with abreechplug having a screw-thread of corresponding conformation. Y

4. In a breech-loading cannon, the combination of the steel bush of the charging-hole and the breech-plug, said steel bush being provided, both externally and internally, with curved or rounded faced screw-threads adapted for engaging with screw-threads of corresponding shape in the charging-hole and in the breech-plug.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses this 28th day of September, 1877.

WILLIAM PALLISER.

Witnesses:

M10. P. M. MILLARD, CHAS. BERKLEY HARRIS. 

